A five-year international multi-center clinical trial has found that acyclovir, a drug widely used as a safe and effective treatment to suppress herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV-2), the most common cause of genital herpes, does not reduce the risk of HIV transmission when taken by people infected with both HIV and HSV-2.
Genital herpes caused by a reactivation of herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) is generally treated as a lesion in one specific area of the genital region. A new study, however, finds that the virus can frequently reactivate throughout the genital tract, an important new concept that could help guide both HSV-2 treatment and prevention.
New video footage of a virus infecting cells is challenging what researchers have long believed about how viruses spread, suggesting that scientists may be able to create new drugs to tackle some viruses.
Neuroscientists have forged an unlikely molecular union as part of their fight against diseases of the brain and nervous system, bringing together the herpes virus and a molecule known as Sleeping Beauty to improve gene therapy. The work has allowed scientists to reach a long-sought goal: shuttling into brain cells a relatively large gene that can remain on for an extended period of time.
A new study found the chicken pox vaccine also reduces the risk of shingles among children. The study used electronic health records to identify and follow 172,000 vaccinated children for two-plus years and found that herpes zoster, known as shingles in adults, is very rare among children who have been vaccinated for chicken pox. This is the largest study of its kind.
Drugs widely prescribed to treat facial paralysis in Bell’s palsy are ineffective and are based on false notions of the cause of the condition, according to researchers. They say research must now focus on discovering other potential causes and treatments.
The decreased risk of HIV infection in circumcised men cannot be explained by a reduction in sores from conditions such as herpes, according to new research.
Cumulative exposure to five common infection-causing pathogens may be associated with an increased risk of stroke, according to a new report.
Cumulative exposure to five common infection-causing pathogens may be associated with an increased risk of stroke, according to a new report.
Drugs widely prescribed to treat facial paralysis in Bell’s palsy are ineffective and are based on false notions of the cause of the condition, according to researchers. They say research must now focus on discovering other potential causes and treatments.
Adults who develop shingles are about 30 percent more likely to have a stroke within a year than adults who don’t have shingles. When the shingles infection involves the skin around the eye and the eye itself, the risk of stroke may increase more than four-fold. Shingles is a painful skin rash caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox.
The virus behind cold sores is a major cause of the insoluble protein plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease sufferers, researchers have revealed. They believe the herpes simplex virus is a significant factor in developing the debilitating disease and could be treated by antiviral agents such as acyclovir, which is already used to treat cold sores and other diseases caused by the herpes virus. Another future possibility is vaccination against the virus to prevent the development of the disease in the first place.
Researchers have discovered a critical new way a man can transmit the HIV virus to a woman. Scientists had long believed that the normal lining of the female vaginal tract was an effective barrier to invasion of the HIV virus during sexual intercourse. But new research has shown for the first time that the HIV virus does indeed penetrate a woman’s normal, healthy genital tissue to a depth were it can gain access to its immune cell targets.
A topical microbicide that silences two genes can safely protect against genital herpes infection for as long as one week, according to a new study.
Stressful experiences in early childhood can have long-lasting impacts on kids’ health that persist well beyond the resolution of the situation.
Researchers are trying to employ a specially designed RNA enzyme to inhibit strains of the herpes simplex virus. The enzyme disables a gene responsible for producing a protein involved in the maturation and release of viral particles in an infected cell. The technique appears to be effective in experiments with mice and rabbits.
You may recall as a child catching the itchy red rash, chicken pox. The unsightly infection was caused by the varicella zoster virus and was responsible for nearly 4 million cases each year, until a vaccine introduced in 1995 reduced that number by 83 percent. Varicella zoster can lie dormant in the body for decades, and if activated can lead to herpes zoster, more commonly referred to as shingles, according to a new study.
Scientists have discovered a new way for our immune system to combat the elusive virus responsible for cold sores: type 1 herpes simplex. A group of virus hunters has identified a cellular process that seeks out and fights herpes.
Researchers have determined that the herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) does not require transcriptional coactivators for viral gene expression early in the infection process. The finding is significant in determining that, in contradiction to earlier models, chemical inhibitors of these cellular proteins are not likely to serve as useful antiviral drugs.
Heterosexual men who undergo medical circumcision can significantly reduce their risk of acquiring two common sexually transmitted infections — herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), the cause of genital herpes, and human papillomavirus, which can cause cancer and genital warts, according to a new report. In the study, circumcision had no effect on their risk of becoming infected with the bacterium that causes syphilis.
New research appears to solve a long standing medical mystery by identifying a viral protein, VP16, as the molecular key that prompts herpes simplex virus (HSV) to exit latency and cause recurrent disease. The new study points to a molecular target for designing improved HSV vaccines and treatments.
Scientists have discovered the local action of immune cells in the skin, which could improve treatment of viral skin infections. This work identifies previously unrecognized first-line defense mechanisms that are particularly important in barrier locations such as the skin and the gut, often used as portals of entry by viruses and bacteria.
Scientists have completed the first description of the mechanics of so-called nuclear herpes virus capsids.
